Football. Is. Back.

We are now less than two hours away from the Vikings and Saints kicking of the 2010 NFL season in the Superdome. Having spent the last 9 months attempting to have Leo DiCaprio and his crew remove the memory of the NFC Championship game from my brain Inception-style has proved unsuccessful, but there are a few things I remember from the game. Namely...Drew Brees and the vaunted Saints offense threw for 197 yards, and were outrushed by the Vikings 165-68. Funny reading the papers/blogs/websites over the last couple of months and seeing not one prognosticator give the Vikings even the NFC North. They return 22/22 starters (21 until Rice returns in week 8) from a team that took the Super Bowl Champs to overtime, and yet the Vikings are universally expected to take a giant step backwards. As a fan of the Vikings, I am all for this sentiment...nothing will prove to motivate the Purple more in 2010 than the "Chip on the Shoulder...FU" mindset they will collectively possess. Expect two teams to show up tonight...it's not going to just be a victory parade in New Orleans...they have a game to play. My gut says Adrian Peterson will never be more focused on tearing up a team and redeeming himself and his fumbles than he will tonight. This game will draw giant ratings, the entire country will be watching, and they just may all find out that the Vikings will in fact be a force to be reckoned with yet again...